PhpfusionApplication · Php Fusion

CVE-2020-23754

CRITICAL · 9.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-11-02
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in infusions/member_poll_panel/poll_admin.php in PHP-Fusion 9.03.50, allows attackers to execute arbitrary code, via the polls feature.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

A stored Cross Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in the poll administration functionality of PHP-Fusion 9.03.50. The vulnerability is located in infusions/member_poll_panel/poll_admin.php, where unsanitized user input in the polls feature allows injection of malicious JavaScript that executes in the browsers of other users viewing the polls, potentially leading to session hijacking or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationImplement strict input validation and context-aware output encoding for all user-supplied data in the poll functionality, and add Content Security Policy headers to mitigate XSS risks.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
PhpfusionApplication
Affected:= 9.03.50

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify PHP-Fusion installation
    Check for PHP-Fusion by looking for its typical installation directories (e.g., /var/www/html/, /htdocs/) or search for characteristic files like main.php, header.php, or config.php in the web root.
    Affected if PHP-Fusion is installed on the server.
  2. Determine PHP-Fusion version
    Locate the version file or check the administration dashboard. The version is typically displayed in the admin panel footer or can be found in version.php or similar files in the includes or root directory.
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 9.03.50.
  3. Verify poll feature is enabled
    Check if the member_poll_panel infusion is enabled. This can be done by examining the infusions table in the database or by accessing the Admin Panel > System > Infusions and looking for 'Member Poll Panel' in the list of active infusions.
    Affected if The Member Poll Panel infusion is enabled and active.
  4. Check for poll administration access
    Verify if the poll_admin.php file exists at infusions/member_poll_panel/poll_admin.php within the PHP-Fusion installation directory. Also determine if any user accounts have permission to access poll administration (typically checked via user_level or specific poll permissions in the database).
    Affected if The poll_admin.php file exists and the site has users with poll administration privileges.

A system is affected only if PHP-Fusion version 9.03.50 is installed, the Member Poll Panel infusion is enabled, and users with poll administration access exist to inject the malicious payload.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement strict input validation and context-aware output encoding for all user-supplied data in the poll functionality, and add Content Security Policy headers to mitigate XSS risks.

Fix this in Phpfusion Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-23754 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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